Ace Combat: Angel Wings Chronicles - Angel vs Butterfly
by MWSeraph
Summary: [Part 7 of the Angel Wings Chronicles] The ISAF 4th Fleet prepares to ambush the Erusean supply ships sailing towards Comberth Harbor. As Angel One launches for his first naval battle, yet another old enemy of Phoenix is waiting to challenge the young crew.


**Ace Combat: Angel Wings Chronicles**

**Angel vs Butterfly**

**Nov. 21, 2004**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own the Ace Combat series or its canon characters, which are a properties of Namco Bandai. Seraph and Cherub are my OCs.**

**_Mission Briefing_**

_The _White Valley _Carrier Battle Group has received orders from the Department of the Navy for a sea interception mission. After the loss of their east coast petrochemical complex in Operation Early Bird, Erusea's Aegir Fleet is stuck inside Comberth Harbor with their shortage of fuel. In response, the Eruseans have dispatched a fleet of reinforcements with a large number of supply vessels to replace their lost fuel supplies. Our aerial recon drone has also confirmed the presence of an amphibious landing unit among the enemy forces, likely to augment their ground invasion of North Point. We also tried to confirm reports of a second carrier group escorting the supply fleet, but our feed with the drone was lost due to enemy interception._

_Your mission is to launch a night-time surprise attack and destroy the supply fleet at the Skully Islands, outside of Stonehenge's attack range. They'll be likely passing through a cluster of several small islands, which should allow us to mask our approach from air and sea. Due to the loss of our recon drone, we are unable to pinpoint the fleet's exact coordinates for long-range missile strikes. To overcome this, a single fighter will be sent in to approach at low altitude to avoid their early-warning radar. Once the enemy's location is confirmed, we will launch a full air raid with jets from the _White Valley_, in conjunction with surprise missile attacks from our destroyers using the islands for cover. _

_Angel One, you will be assigned to be the single fighter scouting out the enemy fleet. Your achievements against all odds has earned you confidence from the top brass, and they believe you to be most suited to not only find the enemy, but to survive and fight back until our allies are positioned for their ambush._

_Captain Liam has kept Headquarters apprised of your progress and needs. High Command has seen fit to supply you with a suitable multirole for anti-surface operations. The new aircraft's performance has been specifically tuned to your piloting skills, and is the only aircraft of its type in operation with the Navy. We expect that you use it well and with care, as you do with your F-14._

_Angel One, prepare for launch._

**CUS _White Valley_, stationed four miles west of the Comona Islands, 1645 hours**

Solomon watched as the deck crews tended to a new addition to his arsenal. It was the new model F/A-18F Super Hornet, recently sourced by the FCU from Osea's military aid program. Compared to the F/A-18Cs that were gathered on the carrier's deck, Solomon's Super Hornet was a white giant. The differences were also far from external; the engineers reduced the performance limiters on the F414 thrusters, which allowed for greater output and speed above Mach 2, and the airframe was reinforced beyond original specifications for greater durability. The software likewise was updated to lower the stability of the fly-by-wire system just enough to allow for greater responsiveness to Solomon's reflexes. The custom F-18F's greatest strength, however, was still its ability to carry more weaponry than the custom F-14D, especially anti-surface weapons. While it would lose some maneuverability carrying a large payload, the Super Hornet would suit Angel Wings' need for an attack aircraft that could still out-turn and out-fight his aerial opposition.

Rico whistled as he came alongside his pilot. "That is one smoking hot bird we've got," he remarked.

Solomon grinned as he watched the aircraft being towed towards one of the elevators. "Pays to have good connections from our old squad leader," he added, "I hear that he's working full-time at HQ now. Wouldn't be surprised if the old bird himself pulled some strings for us."

"Having friends in high places now, eh?" Solomon did not dispute Rico's remark. It seemed that they were being put at the tip of the spear for ISAF offensive operations, though there was talk of a rival ISAF pilot with a ribbon insignia competing for the top ace name. Solomon had a pretty good feeling of who it was.

"If it means getting us closer to going back home and family, I'm not refusing," Solomon finished as the F-18F was lowered to the lower decks. He turned around and went back inside the ship through the superstructure hatch, Rico following. They themselves needed a good meal before the mission. As Solomon went below deck, he thought to himself, 'it's been over a year... too long to be away from my family...'

**CUS _White Valley, _Federated States of the Skully Islands, Skully Islands, 1907 hours**

"All air wings, standby for priority one launch of Angel One."

For what was one of many times aboard the carrier, Seraph and Cherub had their aircraft lifted up towards the flight deck. Seraph steered his new white F/A-18F, adorned with their angel emblem on the tail, towards the number two catapult on the bow of the _White Valley_. Several F/A-18Cs adorned the surrounding deck, three of them standing by on their own catapults.

"Attaching catapult." The neon vest-wearing deck crews secured the undercarriage of the fighter to the launcher. Then the crew chief prompted Seraph to do a final preflight check.

Looking in the back, Seraph said, "Cherub, you know what to do."

"Let's do it," the WSO said as he brought up the checklist on his screen. First were the wing flaps and stabilizers on both sides, which moved fluidly with Seraph's input. "Looking good on both sides," Cherub reported.

"Switching on HMD visor," Seraph prompted. Both pilots flicked on their visor displays, waiting a few seconds for them to initialize. "Weapons check," Seraph said as he brought up his list of weaponry, including his gun and numerous missiles. Running through the loadout of the M61A2 Vulcan gun, AIM-9X Sidewinders, AIM-120 AMRAAMs, AGM-65 Mavericks, and AGM-84 Harpoons. "Gun's spun up... missiles armed and tracking," Cherub replied.

"Roger, arm and check flares," Seraph added.

"Chaff and flares ready."

"Okay, weapons and countermeasures are green," Seraph began to finalize the tests, "good ends, good highs, good lows, no out lights. Ready in the back, Cherub?"

"Whenever you are, Seraph."

"Control, this is Angel One, we are good to go," Seraph relayed.

"Roger, increasing catapult tension and pressure," the controller indicated. Catapult 2 was primed to throw the Super Hornet forward.

"Raise the blast barriers!" The catapult crew raised the sloped barriers behind the fighter.

"Angel One," CIC radioed, "you are clear for takeoff."

"Seraph, Angel One, taking off!" The ISAF ace increased the thrust to military power. The fighter lurched forward with the catapult off the deck. Seraph pulled back on the flight stick to raise his altitude. The CIC followed up with, "Angel One, altitude restrictions lifted."

Seraph then rapidly banked in the northern direction of the islands and accelerated. Cherub was pushed back into his ejection seat as Seraph maneuvered hard. "Whoa, this thing really moves," Cherub said in a stunned voice.

As Seraph sped towards the mission airspace, it was then that a familiar voice radioed in. "Angel One, do you read?" It was Captain Liam speaking.

"_White Valley_, Angel One here," Seraph answered.

"The Eruseans are moving their supply fleet through the channels between the numerous islands in the operational area," Liam indicated, "the actual location of the fleet is still undetermined, since the recon drone was shot down and we lack much of our former satellite surveillance capabilities. It's up to you to locate the enemy and inform our fleet via laser transmission. Our fighters and destroyers will wait on your signal to engage the target once you've confirmed their location. Good hunting."

"Understood, _White Valley_," Seraph acknowledged, "I'm moving on ahead!" The white Super Hornet barreled off into the night sky towards the islands. After six years of relative peace since the Usean Coup of 1998, the Skully Islands would be the site of battle once more. Seraph knew of his mentor, Phoenix's past history of combat over these islands in 1995 and 1998. Now it was Seraph's turn to make his mark on this region's history.

The moonlight shone slightly through the clouds. Compared to the dark and cloudy night sky and the islands down below, Seraph's white Super Hornet was a small spark; while it still sported a matte combat exterior, the fighter would be noticeable for anyone on the surface close enough to it. As the twin-seater fighter approached the operation area, it would have to descend among the lumps of land to evade the Erusean radar.

"We're entering the mission airspace," Cherub warned, "reduce altitude below 500 feet." Besides looking at the radar, the WSO was scanning the waters and islands for anything resembling Erusean ships. Seraph descended just before he crossed the mission boundary, knowing that the early warning radar coverage would only intensify going in.

"_White Valley _CIC here," the coms buzzed, "we're transmitting data on the Erusean radar coverage to your HUD." The corresponding green circles popped up on Seraph's radar screen. "Keep your altitude below 1000 feet and avoid the coverage shown on your radar," CIC advised, "we'll also be imposing radio silence, so you are not permitted to make contact. Good hunting, Angel One."

Seraph took a deep breath. He looked out of the canopy, and saw the black lumps of island barely contrasting with the night sky. "We'd better switch to our night vision..."

"Wilco, buddy," Cherub agreed as he switched on his night vision module in his helmet display. Seraph did the same, causing a thermal green overlay to map out the terrain as though he were flying during a cloudy day. Seraph found himself having to constantly fine-tune his flight path, as some of the islands, combined with the radar circles made for some tight spots to squeeze through.

"This is ridiculous," Cherub grunted as he alternated between watching his radar and the tall cliffs from some of the islands brush by the wingtips, "who sends in a single fighter to conduct reconnaissance at such low altitudes?"

"Command apparently thinks that we're the unicorn to help break Erusea's back," Seraph remarked, "they look to us pilots as though we're miracle workers."

"I'm in no hurry to die young here," Cherub reminded, "miracle worker or not, I'd like to live to see the end of all this."

The two continued to fly on. Seraph had to fly much less aggressive than usual, both to allow Cherub to do his work with the sensors in finding the fleet, and to avoid slamming into terrain or flying into one of the radar circles. While the terrain masking at lower altitudes helped to reduce the Erusean radar coverage, it also meant that Seraph's radar range was also negatively affected.

'Darn... five minutes flying, and no signs of the enemy...' Seraph thought. If he was unable to find the target vessels, the _White Valley _and her fighter and destroyer squadrons would be forced to abort the mission. Being as they were far from ISAF-controlled waters, this was their best and only chance at preventing the Eruseans from resupplying the Aegir Fleet now stuck in Comberth. However, losing the recon drone meant that the _White Valley_ had no real-time monitoring capabilities of the target.

'At this rate... they'll slip away in the dead of night, and going any further north through the islands would put me within range of Stonehenge.' The possibility of accidentally making Stonehenge a factor in the mission was not something Seraph was keen on toying with. It had been months since he was last faced with fire from the dreaded railgun battery, but the ordeal of fleeing Los Canas still remained fresh in his senses and memory.

"Seraph, watch your altitude!" The ISAF ace was jolted out of his train of thought as altitude warning alarms alerted him to his proximity to the mission ceiling. The radar coverage circles quickly grew larger as the white Super Hornet drifted to higher altitudes.

"Ugh!" Seraph dove down quick and turned hard to avoid the radar. The altitude alert blared loudly as the Super Hornet came close to hitting one of the mountain islands. Cherub held on tight as his pilot banked hard to gain distance from slamming into terrain. Seraph was able to remain calm and regain his bearings, putting the fighter back on level flight.

"That was close," Cherub gasped, "pay attention, man!"

"Yeah, sorry," Seraph apologized as he tried to slow his breathing. The flight envelope over the islands was limited, and for Seraph's difficulty, he was having no joy finding his target. He was beginning to think that this raid was too unfeasible...

The radio suddenly buzzed to life. "Angel One, this is the _White Valley..." _The crew of the white aircraft perked up and listened in. "We've received new information from a HUMINT asset regarding the targets' location. We're sending information of a possible sighting to your radar." The corresponding waypoint then popped up on the mission map; forty miles to the east of Seraph's current location. "Fly out to the waypoint and confirm the sighting."

Seraph mused over the new findings from this apparent sympathizer from inside Erusean territory. Either this just made his job a lot easier, or it could still be a false positive, causing him to waste more precious fuel and time. He closed his eyes for a bit and took a soft, deep breath. His eyes then snapped open as he flipped several electronic switches on his touchscreen. The lights and indicators went from green to red as he disengaged the limiters on his thrusters. "Hang on!" Seraph gripped his flight stick tight, and increased the throttle to maximum power. The plane began to shake as the custom engines went into full afterburner, with warning lights and tone blaring away.

"Oomph!" Cherub found himself pushed back into his seat as the Hornet accelerated. Seraph grit his teeth as his vision began to shake and blur from the inertia. Both Seraph and his co-pilot fought against the strain of the fighter maneuvering tighter at higher speeds than was intended. Seraph then felt his body adjust to the inertial forces, allowing him to sit forward and maneuver the custom fighter.

The white ISAF fighter swept past the small and large islands alike, breaking the sound barrier at Mach 2. From an observer's view, it would look like a white comet was blowing through the darkness. While Cherub continued to chatter his teeth from the shaking and nervousness, Seraph was now grinning at the thrill he was getting from flying aggressively without passing out.

After two minutes of navigating the maze of radar coverage and islands at low altitude, several targets began to show up on Seraph's HUD. "There they are," Seraph muttered gladly, "the enemy supply fleet!" True enough, he could make out the navigation lights from the Erusean vessels. "Cherub, arm Mavericks! We'll take out their command vessel!"

"R-r-roger," Cherub managed to chatter out as he worked through the vibrations towards his touchscreens. Inputting the appropriate commands for the master arm, Cherub allowed for Seraph to select the AGM-65s from his arsenal. Seraph barreled forward and past several escort ships. Their CIWS failed to fire due to him shooting past at high speeds at low altitude. Seraph's fighter just roared past as the Erusean sailors were startled at the appearance of a white comet.

"There it is," Seraph said as he locked onto the command ship at the center of the formation. He wove his fighter around the supply ships and destroyers, which were blurs in his vision. The custom Super Hornet broke through to the center, with the command ship sailing in the opening between the other ships, giving Seraph a clear shot. "Now its your turn to fear the heavens above, Erusea!" With a solid missile lock tone, Seraph pulled the trigger on a Maverick missile.

Before the enemy sailors could comprehend the bright white blur, the command vessel's bridge starboard side burst open in an explosion. The white fighter jet blasted into the skies above the Eruseans as Seraph's first naval kill listed on its side with a loud groan. Seeing that he had drawn first blood, Seraph barked, "Cherub, send laser communications to the _White Valley;_ it's judgement time." Seraph looked out of the canopy, using his HMD visor to mark several more targets. Besides the supply ships and landing ships, there were indeed several missile destroyers and frigates flanking them, along with large numbers of MiG-29 fighter-bombers covering the skies.

"Roger!" As Cherub transmitted back to their carrier, Seraph pulled a high-G turn to face the escort of MiG-29s. Two of them barely had time to react before Seraph let loose with his Vulcan cannon. Both Eruseans were forced to bail out as their planes plummeted in flames. Now knowing that it was an attack, the Erusean vessels began to haphazardly blanket the sky with whatever AA guns they had. Seraph just soared past the tracers, using his F-18's enhanced speed and maneuverability to stay ahead.

"Give me the next target, Cherub," Seraph ordered. Cherub worked on his console to designate the next warship to hit.

"There," Cherub said as new information popped up on Seraph's HUD, "target the destroyer at the front of the enemy formation. We can block their path and slow them down for our allies to attack."

"I like your suggestion, buddy," Seraph beamed as he steered towards the designated target. The lead destroyer fired SAMs right at Seraph, who just fired his flares and shot past the missiles without them detonating. "Goodnight," Seraph muttered as he locked on. He fired one of his Harpoon missiles, which went straight for the stern of the ship. The destroyer's engines and helipad were completely blown off. One of the supply ships that followed too close and too fast rear-ended the warship, wrecking both vessels and disrupting the Erusean forces' movement through the islands.

"Oh man..." Cherub marveled just before he was pushed back from a high-G turn.

"Alright," Seraph grunted, "let's try for more!" The Erusean escort fighters chased after him, desperate to shoot him down. The missile alert rang out as Seraph was fired upon. He simply pulled several tight turns and rolls, throwing the missiles off of him. Seraph locked on to one of the larger missile cruisers and fired a Maverick. With the high release velocity, the missile zipped past the CIWS fire and blew into one of the missile batteries, setting off ordnance and blowing the cruiser in half.

Seraph's fighter boomed past the wreckage and began to circle back around. It was then that the radio buzzed to life. "This is Ferris One," an allied ISAF pilot radioed, "sorry for the wait, Angel One." True enough, Seraph saw several allied fighters approaching on the radar.

"Hotel One here," another ISAF pilot called, "leave some for us, Angel One!"

It was then that surface contacts registered as ISAF warships appeared. "This is the _Heracles_," an ISAF captain announced, "we've arrived at our designated attack point. We're about to engage the enemy fleet and their escorts."

"Roger _Heracles_," another ship replied, "CUS _Atlas _preparing to contain enemy forces in the straits."

Cherub smiled as the ISAF fighters approached in battle formations. "We've got this in the bag, Seraph," he cheered.

"Amen to that," Seraph agreed as he pursued one of the fighter escorts, "let's wrap this up." He fired a Sidewinder at the Fulcrum, blowing out its engines and dumping it over the ocean.

"Ferris Team, engaging."

"Hotel Team, engaging."

"All allied ships, commence firing!"

The ISAF battle group began its assault on the Erusean fleet in earnest. While the legacy Hornets assisted Seraph in destroying the enemy fighters and escort ships, the allied destroyers fired their missiles and cannons from behind the islands, striking the landing and supply ships. Seraph evaded the anti-aircraft fire and barreled in at low altitude towards two Erusean cruisers. Their AA guns fired, but Seraph's low altitude approach and the wreckage from the supply ships hindered their shots.

"Here goes!" Seraph fired his two last Mavericks, each striking the sterns of their respective targets. The ships listed on their blown off sterns as they lost power. Climbing to escape the smoke, Seraph did a weapons check on his custom fighter. He still had plenty of anti-air missiles, though he was down to one Harpoon. "There's only one left, huh," Seraph muttered.

"We managed to take out six ships, though," Cherub pointed out, "and single handedly!"

Seraph watched as the rest of the air and sea battle raged across the straits. By now, the Erusean Navy's momentum had been broken, and whatever ships were not damaged or sunk started to turn back, while others stayed on to fight.

"This is the _Heracles_," the destroyer captain reported, "the enemy fleet is beginning to scatter. We've got some remnants, but it's mainly just a few escort fighters and some frigates."

"Roger that, _Heracles_," Seraph acknowledged, "we'll assist with mopping up the remaining hostiles."

Suddenly, one of the allied pilots called. "This is Hotel Three, I'm picking up an additional contact on radar!"

"What?" Cherub switched to his long range radar. True enough, there was an unknown bogey speeding towards the battle. "Heads up, Seraph," Cherub warned, "we've got company, altitude five-thousand, bearing zero-four-five from reference! One aircraft!"

"Copy that," Seraph grunted. He wondered if Sergei Brynner had followed him all the way to the Skully Islands. Admittedly, Seraph himself wanted another match with the Beast. "There's no IFF return from the bogey," Seraph noted aloud.

"Hotels One and Two moving to intercept." Two of the allied F/A-18Cs changed their vectors to meet the bogey. Just before they could acquire the unknown, their missile alerts blared loudly.

"Missile alert!"

"Bogey's fired!"

"Hotel One, Hotel Two, evade!" Cherub's warning came too late as two high-velocity missiles struck the ISAF fighters head-on. Seraph could see from his vantage point that there was no bailing out for them.

"Hotels One and Two are down," Ferris Two reported, "I don't see any chutes!"

"Bandit closing in at high speed," Hotel Three shouted, "it's heading for you, Angel One!"

The radar lock alert beeped in the cockpit. "Seraph, we're being targeted," Cherub exclaimed.

"I know." Seraph turned his Super Hornet to engage the hostile. 'Brynner,' he thought, 'he's back.' The missile alert blared as a missile soared towards him. Seraph barrel dived hard, releasing chaff and flares. The missile fortunately overshot, sparing Seraph of battle damage. It was then that the hostile aircraft came into view, shooting past the white Super Hornet. It was then that Seraph caught a glimpse of the aircraft; it was not the dreaded green camo Typhoon of his enemy.

The attacker was an Su-33 Flanker-D, sporting a purple camouflage pattern and butterfly emblem.

'No... it's not Brynner,' Seraph mused as he turned towards the enemy, 'that butterfly emblem...'

"Seraph," Cherub spoke in disbelief, "did you see that?"

Seraph did not answer, going into combat alert as he accelerated. The purple Flanker also accelerated, as though to get away from the ISAF ace. Seraph pursued the enemy as it dove down towards the islands. He soon found himself zig zagging again as he chased the Flanker, trying to avoid crashing into terrain. As he focused on the Su-33, Seraph could not help but notice how smooth the Erusean fighter's movements were. Even at high speeds with the risk of a crash, the hostile fighter was rolling and turning like a refined dancer in a classical Renaissance party. Seraph began to envy the Erusean a little.

"Sorry to break up the dance," Seraph muttered as he locked onto the carrier Flanker. It suddenly braked and executed a roll, causing Seraph to overshoot underneath it and putting him in the enemy's crosshairs. "Nuts," Seraph knew he was now in trouble.

"We're being locked up," Cherub exclaimed as the alert tone beeped, "shake him!" Seraph put his throttle to full as he tried to escape. The Su-33 then fired another high velocity Alamo missile, which streaked towards the F-18F. "Bank right," Cherub yelled. The white ISAF fighter dispensed more flares with its high speed turn. The Alamo missed his turbofans and detonated harmlessly in midair.

"Well," a voice surprisingly came over the coms, "it looks like that moron, Brynner was right after all. Not exactly a phoenix's spawn, but angel wings do just fine for you." Seraph's eyes widened. The enemy pilot was contacting him; an older woman from the sounds of it.

"Oh, come on," Cherub was exasperated, "what's with weirdos getting our frequency!?" Seraph on the other hand, recognized that voice from his flight academy days.

"Camilla Almeida," Seraph expressed some surprise, "what are you doing out here?"

Cherub was taken off guard. "Wait... Almeida... as in Cocoon Squadron!?" Both men knew the former leader of Cocoon Squadron from Phoenix's flight school. She fought against Phoenix with her flight over the Skully Islands back in 1998. While she had been shot down, she survived the war, and was pardoned by the Usean Alliance military tribunal for her cooperation during the investigations of Rebel war crimes. Despite being enemies during the coup, Phoenix and Cocoon 1 held each other in respect and admiration, and were even dating. Back when he met her, Seraph had thought that she would have made for a good partner to his mentor.

The two fighters continued to race across the straits, with Seraph proving to be quite agile in his F-18F. "You don't have any reason to fight us, Cocoon 1," Seraph referred to his enemy by her previous callsign as he tried to reason with her, "my fight is with Erusea, not you."

"Sorry, Angel Wings," Cocoon 1 replied, "nothing personal against you, but you know how I love a challenge. Pity that Brynner had to go an clip Phoenix's wings before I could have a rematch..

Seraph caught glances of tracers flying by his wings. Gritting his teeth, he pulled back hard in a cobra maneuver, putting his fighter back behind Cocoon 1. "Then again," Almeida smirked, "I could use a fresh partner to dance with." Cherub would have tried unplugging his ears if he could. Did she flirt with his pilot?

Seraph nearly rolled his eyes. "Sorry lady, you're not my type," he retorted as he fired a Sidewinder. The purple Su-33 dodged the missile with a sudden split to the left.

"Let's party, angel boy!" Almeida slammed on her throttle as she was fired up.

"Hold on, Cherub!" The ISAF angel fighter broke Mach 1 in pursuit. White and purple clashed as the angel and butterfly aces left contrails of missiles and tracers across the sky. Seeing that Cocoon One had Angel One tied up in a twisting and turning fight, the remaining Erusean forces began to withdraw from the area. The ISAF fleet fighters and warships kept firing, but the Eruseans were rapidly moving out of range of air and sea attacks.

"The enemy fleet is withdrawing," Cherub managed as he was pushed back into his seat.

"Maybe... but we've got a killer butterfly still fluttering about us!" Seraph fired his 20mm cannon again, which Cocoon One dodged with a furious but smooth barrel roll. The female ace responded with a swift Immelmann Turn, and nearly clipped Seraph with her 30mm. Undeterred, Seraph flipped around on his tail and took off after Cocoon One.

"Come on, Seraph," Almeida egged on, "I know you're holding back!" She rapidly ascended, her Su-33 making for an imposing sight as she showed off her colors. "I know Phoenix taught you much more."

"Seraph, don't push it." Cherub was now concerned. First Brynner, and now Almeida; he feared that his friend was pushing himself and their fighters beyond their limits.

"I have to," Seraph replied, thrusting forward on the throttle. His WSO was smooshed back into his seat for the umpteenth time, teeth chattering nervously.

"Now that's the spirit!" Almeida's Su-33 braked and dove back down towards Seraph's Super Hornet. The opposing aces rushed headlong in a vertical duel, each readying their remaining missiles.

"Angel One, Fox 2!" Seraph let his Sidewinder fly. His missile alert flared up simultaneously as Cocoon fired her Archer AAM. Seeing that he had no other way out, Angel Wings accelerated hard with a slight yaw to the right. Releasing his chaff and flares as he rolled, he was able to get the Archer to narrowly miss his underside. His Sidewinder detonated, and while Almeida avoided the worst, some shrapnel did nick her in one of the engines. As Seraph leveled out of the duel, Cocoon chuckled to herself despite the alarms going off from her damaged engine.

"Not bad for the first run," she complimented, "you've clearly matured enough to even begin slipping into Old Birdie's wings." Reducing power to the damaged engine and increasing thrust on the other one, she prepared for another joust with Seraph. However, it was then that she received a transmission from her home carrier.

"Cocoon One," the Erusean controller radioed, "mission command has confirmed that all surviving allies have withdrawn. Return to base at once."

The Usean veteran huffed at this. While she was sent out to provide cover for her allies, she had just regained the thrill of battle she had missed since that day over these islands. However, she was still not so vain as to needlessly fight to the death. "Another day, Angel Wings," she promised, "another day..." With that she changed her vector and boosted away to the northeast, leaving the combat zone.

"Cocoon One is retreating," Cherub reported from his radar, "and it looks like the other enemy forces bugged out while we were at it too."

Seraph felt the tension leave his muscles as he unwound in his seat. The fuel gauge was bordering between yellow and red, so even if he wanted to, he was in no shape to pursue, and he was down to only two Sidewinders and one hundred rounds in the gun. 'Camilla Almeida...' he thought to himself, 'it's as though the ghosts of my mentor's past have come back to haunt me...'

"We should head back as well," Seraph said as he began his return trip to the _White Valley._ Captain Liam was going to want to hear of this...

**_Debriefing_**

_We've succeeded in preventing the Erusean reinforcements from joining up with the Aegir Fleet in Comberth Harbor. This will keep them from launching to invade North Point, and allow us to proceed with the next operation of destroying the Aegir Fleet._

_We've also confirmed that the enemy pilot in the purple Su-33 encountered tonight over the Skully Islands was Camilla Almeida, aka Cocoon 1 of the Cocoon Squadron from the last war. Intel believes that after she had been pardoned for her cooperation in the post-coup operations, she at some point joined the Erusean military and has since taken part in numerous naval battles that decimated many of our fleets at the war's onset. As one of the former rebellion's most skilled pilots, Almeida is to be considered a priority threat for the 4th Fleet to eliminate, alongside Sergei Brynner._

_Ensign Solomon Davidson and Rico Esposito, for your performance in exposing the location of the enemy, sinking six of their warships single-handedly, and surviving combat against Cocoon Squadron, you both are being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. High Command will have even higher expectations of you both now that your skills have been proven against two rival Usean Rebellion aces, and I'm confident that you can put an end to the threats that they pose._

_Now both of you, get some rest until the next operation._


End file.
